A Vietnamese court has sentenced former deputy foreign minister, Anh Dung, to 16 years in prison alongside 53 other officials in one of the country’s largest ever bribery cases.
Businessmen were also among those convicted and sentenced by the court on Tuesday.
The convicts were found guilty of participating in a scheme in which diplomats and companies extorted money from Vietnamese citizens abroad who sought to return home on “rescue flights” during the COVID-19 pandemic, when commercial flights were suspended, according to Al Jazeera.
A total of 25 state officials were found guilty of receiving bribes amounting to 175 billion dong ($7.4 million).
Mr. Dung, in particular, was found guilty of accepting 21.5 billion dong ($908,000) in bribes.
The former minister admitted before the court that he had received bribes, mostly at his office in the foreign ministry headquarters in Hanoi, to add companies to the list of approved repatriation flight providers.
He further confessed that he collected the cash once the flights were completed.
“I did not think at that time I had done something wrong. I only thought I had facilitated the companies to bring back Vietnamese citizens from abroad,” Mr. Dung told the court.
In 2020, Vietnam closed its borders to curb the spread of the coronavirus and organized nearly 800 chartered flights to bring citizens home from 60 countries and territories.
However, returning travellers faced complex procedures, exorbitant airfare, and quarantine fees, according to officials.
The court’s verdict stated that the former officials had abused their positions and the pandemic “for personal benefit.”
According to the court, “the move badly undermined the prestige of state agencies and sectors, causing anger in society and undermining people’s trust.”
